As the name implies, this is a hike with near endless views. Grand View Point is the southern-most spot on Canyonland’s high mesa, the Island in the Sky. Laid out below is a complex network of canyons carved by the converging Colorado and Green Rivers. This 2-mile round trip hike leaves from Grand View Overlook and travels down the mesa’s edge for as far as you can go without running out of real estate.

Panels at Grand View Overlook provide an illustration of the geological layers that make up Canyonlands National Park. The Colorado River is the powerful landscaper, carving a thousand-foot trench into the earth. The next layer is the White Rim. This striking ornamentation runs along the top of the canyons, taking its coloration from salt deposited in the soil. A thousand feet above the rim is the top of the mesa, where you can look out over it all.

Looking down from Grand View Overlook toward Monument Basin

Leave the overlook and take the trail to the right along the edge of the bluff. Head southwest, following the contours of the mesa, and enjoy the inspiring views to the east across Monument Basin toward the La Sal Mountains. When the trail moves inland, let the cairns be your guide. The single-track crosses firm sandstone, losing just eighty feet of elevation as it progresses to the 6,000-foot point.

The trail follows the edge of the mesa to Grand View Point

The trail cliffs-out to the right of a fifteen-foot tall boulder formation. For the grandest view of all, give them a climb and have a look around. Grand View Point offers tremendous views to the east, south, and west. Junction Butte, located just to the south somehow enhances the scale of the view. Beyond lie the two other explorable regions of Canyonlands National Park, the Needles and Maze districts. You could quite easily be inspired to visit these other areas of Canyonlands based on this sight alone. When you’ve had your fill, take the same trail back to return to the parking lot at Grand View Overlook.

Junction Butte of the end of Grand View Point

To get to the trailhead: From the Island in the Sky Visitor Center, drive south for 12 miles to road’s end at Grand View Overlook.

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